It was previously announced that TOR would be released on Dec 20th in the US and Dec 22nd in Europe, however, BioWare have today announced that the game will be releasing simultaneously in both territories on Dec 20th instead.
Those who have pre-ordered and redeemed their keys before release will of course still receive early access.
The game can't come sooner!
This years Arbiter elections have now concluded folks.
The last stretch was extremely close with Mechanus, Messiah & Stracius all tied with 4 votes each but Mechanus just snagged it with the last deciding vote taking him ahead. He has thus taken over as the SSX Arbiter for the next 12 months. God help us (hehe :p).
Thanks go to Stracius who has held the position for the past couple of years, to all other candidates for taking part and everyone else who took time out of their schedules to vote.
Congratulations Mech & good luck!
Nominations have passed and it is now time to vote for the candidate you think should serve as the SSX Arbiter from now until September 2012.
We have 5 members to choose from this year. They are;
Anubis
Isileth
Mechanus
Messiah
Stracius
If you don't know someone very well or you're not sure who to vote for have a read of their candidate posts in this thread.
The vote itself can be found here
Now that we have a place to discuss all things TOR without cluttering the general forum it's probably best that we discuss some important topics in advance of us moving ingame.
Just a few of those will be deciding whether we leave our Sith guild on a EU server or we switch it to a US one, discussing the guilds focus (progression etc.), making a note of who has pre-ordered (or will be playing for definite) and covering our ingame moderators for both EU & US.
Please drop by the new forum when you have a few moments to spare and lend your thoughts. Some of the above discussions have already been opened and chances are we will have some more things to talk in the coming weeks to try and make sure our new group goes as smoothly as possible. There's still plenty of time left before launch though so there's no rush. Also if you have anything yourself that you think we should discuss feel free to post.
Yes, you read that right.
Secretly in development and underwraps for quite some time it is now my pleasure to announce the launch of our new group website for Star Wars: The Old Republic. You can find it by clicking here!
Please read the full announcement post here.
Since we moved to our new webserver almost a month ago now, the administrative team has been hard at work on a variety of projects with the aim of improving upon and expanding the functionality of our website. Today we're happy to announce the launch of the first of those projects - a revamp of our Screenshot System.
As you'll be able to see from our "Screenshot of the Day" to the left, and also through our (new) Gallery link in the navigation above, we've replaced the old 'popup' system of browsing our screenshots with a Lightbox system. The size of image thumbnails have been increased alongside this, and the means of switching between different Groups' screenshots within the Gallery has also been completely redeveloped allowing for much easier browsing and filtering down to what you want to look at.
We've also dug around and unearthed some new screenshots that were not included in the old system - all of which have now been added into the Gallery. There are 155 new images, bringing the Gallery to a count of 591 images in total divided amongst our respective groups.
All feedback on the new system is, as always, most welcome. Should you have any, please post it here.
Thanks go to SSX-MS for his help on this project, both in working to produce our new thumbnails and providing images/design assistance where necessary.
As mentioned earlier, this is only the first of several ongoing administrative projects - so keep your eyes on the site in the coming weeks!
Some exciting news has just come out of BioWare's panel at the Eurogamer Expo in London this morning!
I am very happy to reveal that The Old Republic will be released this year on December 20th in the US and December 22nd in Europe. Those eligible for early access will get in at some point before then too.
Every copy of the game will come with 30 days of free gametime as you may already be aware but from that point on the subscription fees will be as follows:
- 1 Month Subscription: $14.99 (£8.99/€12.99)
- 3 Month Subscription: $13.99 per month (one-time charge of $41.97/£25.17/€35.97)
- 6 Month Subscription: $12.99 per month (one-time charge of $77.94/£46.14/€65.94)
Paypal & pre-paid subscription cards will also be available as payment methods on top of the usual credit card option.
(If you would like to read the official press release you can do so here or join our TOR discussion here too)
I for one cannot wait to get started with this new group of ours. It's gonna be a good Christmas this year folks, roll on December!
As previously mentioned we currently have a Sith Empire pre-launch guild setup for The Old Republic. Should we later confirm our guild(s) for transfer BioWare will import them into the game itself with no further imput from ourselves, providing 4 people have pre-ordered.
I can now report that BlackDove has created a Republic guild for us as well under the name of the Shattered Star Society. If you intend on playing TOR but you would like to play as the Republic on your main character please go ahead and join this group. Otherwise please stop by the existing Sith group!.
(Please note: Since this system goes by accounts and not individual characters you can only join ONE of these. Should we eventually import both of these you'd be able to have characters in both once we're ingame but for the time being it's one or the other. We'll see what happens...)
BioWare have today opened up a very cool pre-launch guild program for their highly anticipated MMO title, Star Wars: The Old Republic.
This program allows players to register and reserve their guilds well in advance of the game going live. Now this doesn't just include the name but the entire guild and its membership as well as the option of forming potential alliances and adversaries with other clans should they wish. Of course other players are able to search through the list of clans and apply to join them also. Letting newbies get to know the people they'll be playing with before retail and reserve themselves a spot.
Now the best part about this is that it's not just some gimmicky out of game feature. Providing the leader confirms the guild is still active when phase3 of this program arrives (shortly before launch) and at least 4 members have pre-ordered a copy of the game (pre-order program details will come soon) by this time too, these guilds will be transferred into the game itself on a server type/time zone of their preference when they created. No hastle of creating our guilds on day one and slowly trying to get everyone invited. We'll simply create our character and be greeted by an invite the minute we log-in, have everything ready and waiting for us. How handy?!
Also to note is that considering we're able to pick a time-zone preference it appears we'll be able to play on EU, US West or US East servers no matter where we're from. Of course the guild itself will have to be on one or the other unless we go with both but this is great news for us as a community. Giving us the option of playing together should we wish.
Going with the forum responses on our previous TOR thread it seems the majority of us (those of whom posted) are either wanting to play as the Sith Empire or will play either faction as their main with only a couple who intend to play as the Republic. Most of us coming from Europe. If you plan on playing too but haven't posted your preference feel free to make yourself heard on the forum. This may change where and who we play as.
Taking said responses into account I have created us a Sith clan on a EU PvP server right here. Please come join us!. (You can find more information on the pre-launch guild program here too.)
Be sure to keep up to date via the forums should we create a US or Republic clan. Ideally our aim is to only confirm one clan for phase3 importing and have everyone join that one if possible but we'll see what happens. ;)
The SSX group in EvE Online has recently begun to pen a new chapter in their history, as they have completed a transition into their new alliance - SpaceMonkeys Alliance.
SpaceMonkeys Alliance is very large, meaning that SSX members have a much larger group of friendly ships with which they can fly, and also that they are able to take part in alliance activities that they were previously unable to. In recent weeks, for example, the SSX have been invited to participate alongside fellow alliance-mates in the invasion and capture of a hostile-solar system.
We congratulate all members of SSX EvE on this successful transition, and hope that SpaceMonkeys Alliance will allow them to flourish and continue to go from strength to strength. Keep up the good work guys!
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Going to finish the other wing assembly tomorrow.
It may not look big like this, but the longest feather is nearly 1 meter
#willowwings 
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Latest news: High Court declares National Disability Strategy unlawful due to inadequate consultation
The Claimants are represented by Jamie Potter, Shirin Marker and Amy O’Shea of Bindmans, and @SteveBroach and @kerbarnes of @39EssexChambers
Read more: tinyurl.com/2p8f4dhp 
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